After entering October, the Russo-Prussian War entered a new stage. Both sides fought hard again, and the battle was dark and bloody.

In the area of East Prussia, the Prussian army had the upper hand; In the Polish region, the Russian army again pressed the Pu-Polish coalition army.

Austria also sent military observers, and Franz was secretly glad to see the information gathered from the battlefield.

Sure enough, there is no vanity under the fame, the name of the European hegemon of the Russian Empire is made, and the combat effectiveness of the Russian army is definitely at the forefront of the world in this era.

The Russian Empire in the original time and space has been fighting all the way through the streets, and it is still feared by various countries, but it is not just the joke - winter and the vast territory.

The strategic advantage that geography brings is only useful when defending. The war mainly depends on people, and geographical conditions are only a supporting role.

The Prussian Army had come to the forefront of the world, but when it came to the battlefield, the advantage they had achieved was not obvious.

In the case of inferior weapons and equipment, the Russian army can block the Prussian army with flesh and blood, and the battle loss ratio between the two sides is gradually narrowed after the change of clothes.

The Prussian army only relies on the advantage of training to gain the upper hand, and when encountering some elite Russian troops, they will even be at a disadvantage.

The war in the Near East was not fought in vain, and at the cost of nearly a million troops, the tsarist government still gained a strong fighting army.

Schönbrunn Palace, high-level military meeting.

"You've all read the information, judging from the information collected so far, who do you think will win this battle?"

Franz only asked about the battle, not about the victory of the war as a whole. The difference in strength between Prussia and Russia is too great, as long as the tsarist government is willing to explode the liver, the final winner is obvious.

Not to mention Prussia, in the face of the desperate Russian Empire, no country in the world dared to guarantee victory.

Even if Austria and Russia face each other, Franz will have to use off-the-board moves to win.

Otherwise, the two sides fought hard with their strength and paid millions of casualties, where would there be any victory?

People of this era did not dare to imagine a war with the loss of millions of people at one time, but Franz understood it.

The Russian Empire is so big, a wave of waves can't be bulldozed at all, and in the end it can only fight for people's lives. Once this happens, where are the winners?

Field Marshal Edmund, Chief of the General Staff, replied: "Your Majesty, judging by the current situation, I am more optimistic about the Kingdom of Prussia.

They seem to be preparing a big plan, and from the point of view of the deployment of troops, the Prussian army is preparing for a decisive battle with the Russian army in the East Prussian region.

Once they complete their plans, at least half of the more than 300,000 Russian troops in East Prussia will be left behind.

The Russian commander was too arrogant and bent on breaking through, not taking into account the danger at all. At a disadvantage, they still did not shrink their front. ”

This is understandable, the difference in strength between the two armies of Prussia and Prussia at war is not large, even if they are at a disadvantage, it is nothing more than that the casualties of the soldiers are a little larger, and the Russian commanders are not intimidated.

The gray cattle are worthless, and they take the initiative to fight a war of attrition with the Prussian army, and as long as they can win the war, the tsarist government will not care about casualties.

The exchange of 2:1 and 3:1 in front of them dared to fight more than the Russian army, and now the casualty ratio has dropped to 1.3:1, and it is possible to take advantage of it occasionally, why don't you dare to fight?

War Secretary Albrecht analyzed: "Prussia's recent actions are somewhat unusual, a large number of strategic materials have arrived at the front ahead of schedule, and these supplies have exceeded the needs of the front.

It is reasonable to reserve more food and ammunition, but there is definitely a problem with the extra tents and daily necessities.

According to preliminary estimates, even if there is a sudden increase of 200,000 troops, their material reserves are sufficient. I suspect that the Prussians were about to increase the East Prussian front, and these were just preliminary preparations.

At present, the disorganized army of the Kingdom of Prussia is as much as 1.2 million.

Among them, the main force is about 400,000, the second-line reserve force is about 150,000, and the rest are temporary recruits.

The main forces are fighting hard with the Russians on the front line, and the second-line troops are also in the Polish region, joining forces with the Polish rebels to resist the Russian attack.

The remaining temporary conscripts, who did not have much combat effectiveness, now they are conducting military training while guarding the coastal areas.

After so long in the war, some of these recruits have completed their initial training and are ready to fight a war.

With the strength of both sides equal, throwing into the battlefield is enough to change the outcome of a war.

This aspect is not comparable to the Russians, and they can only maintain their current strength due to logistical supplies. ”

Historically, when the Kingdom of Prussia completed a counterattack, it was not that their army was much stronger than the enemy, but the most important link was to concentrate superior forces to engage the enemy.

Both the Austro-Prussian War and the Franco-Prussian War were won by relying on absolutely superior forces. If the forces are really equal, it will be a bitter battle, how can there be a rolling victory?

The Russo-Prussian War lasted so long, and they did not come up with this tactic for two main reasons: first, there were too many tsarist troops; Second, the transportation in Russia is too bad, and the logistics of the initiative offensive are a big problem.

Now that the Russian army has entered the East Prussian region, the situation has changed. In a home war, the railway superiority of the Kingdom of Prussia could be brought into play.

This meant that the Prussians had the ability to increase their forces in a certain area in a short period of time, establishing regional superiority in forces and increasing their chances of victory in the war.

Franz is no longer a military novice, and he already has the ability to talk on paper, but he is short of the last actual combat ability.

There is no way to do this, the small war is not the turn of the emperor to command it personally, and Franz does not dare to command the big war, so the last shortcoming is unsolvable.

Looking at the simulated battlefield sand table, Franz was quickly relieved. This game did not collapse, although the combat effectiveness of the Russian army was strengthened, but they did not strengthen the command ability of the high-ranking officers of the Russian army.

The Kingdom of Prussia has not yet reached the point of exhaustion, and it is still a country with a population of 15 million, and there is still potential to be tapped.

As a semi-industrial country, the mobilization capacity of the Kingdom of Prussia has increased considerably. Now that there is the support of the financier, it is not a dream to complete the extreme mobilization.

Recruits who were temporarily mobilized, although they did not have much combat effectiveness. However, the sudden appearance of these troops on the battlefield during the decisive battle can also be the last straw that changes the outcome of the war.

As for the sneak attack of the Russian army, the big deal is to lose a few coastal cities, warships cannot be driven to land, and the navy can still go deep alone?

Lookers-on see most of the game. As a bystander, he knew what he knew, but Franz did not have the slightest intention of reminding the tsarist government.

The great cause of the Russian empire was great, and they could afford this loss. The Kingdom of Prussia has limited strength, and at most it can defeat this Russian army, and it is impossible to swallow hundreds of thousands of Russian troops in one go.

……

While Franz was conducting military exercises, the kingdom of Pru, which had already been prepared, also began to act.

The railways across the country were up and running rapidly, and trains carried the soldiers who were scattered all over the country to the front. In just two days, they sent 150,000 troops to the East Prussian front.

Armageddon officially broke out, and the sudden appearance of a new force instantly blinded the Russian commander.

Under normal circumstances, no matter how fast a troop movement of this scale is, it will take ten days and half a month, and they have enough time to adjust the deployment of troops.

Within two days, however, Prussian reinforcements arrived. There is no way for the Russian army to complete the adjustment of the front of several hundred kilometers in two days.

In some areas, the Prussian army even formed a superiority of four or five times the number of troops and launched an offensive against the Russian army.

Naturally, there was no suspense in the result, although the Russian army resisted very heroically, it still could not change the fate of defeat.

The East Prussian region was the native of the Kingdom of Prussia, and the Prussian army was very familiar with the local situation, and as soon as they broke through the Russian defenses, they immediately interspersed.

At the same time, the Prussians also formed a detachment of spearheads from East Prussia and sent this small unit to sabotage the telegraph lines of the Russian army.

Organize hundreds of thousands of troops to fight, and the telegraph is the biggest black technology. There was no telegraph to transmit orders, and relying on heralds to deliver letters was too inefficient.

Due to insufficient precautions in advance, the Russian army soon suffered a big loss. There was no telegram to communicate information in time, and the Russian troops on the front line soon fell into the embarrassing situation of fighting on their own.

In particular, the troops that suffered defeat directly turned into headless flies and scurried around the battlefield. The efficiency of the heralds is too low to keep up with the changing situation on the battlefield.

In many units, the regimental headquarters could not contact the division headquarters, and the division headquarters could not contact the military headquarters, and the Russian army in the entire East Prussian region became a pot of porridge.

This situation, naturally, did not escape Moltke's expectations. Now that it has changed from a hard fight to a tailwind, he decisively put the recruits in the rear into battle.

With the superiority in troops, the Prussian army soon gained dominance on the battlefield. The Russian army, which was in chaos, was routed all the way and retreated all the way to the Western Dvina River before barely establishing its own foot. (Daugava River in present-day Latvia)

At this time, the Russian army had been sharply reduced from 386,000 before the war to 112,000, and it had also lost a large number of strategic materials and almost all artillery.

The Prussian army did not dare to continue deeper, winter in the Baltic Sea region was coming, and they had to clear the Russian army in their territory as soon as possible and consolidate the gains they had made.

The situation on the battlefield affects the whole body. With the fall of the Lithuanian region, the Belarusian region came out of nowhere.

After the flanks were threatened, the Russian troops, who were still attacking the Pubo coalition forces, also had to shrink their defensive lines. However, by this time, it was too late to make a decision.

After the end of the battle in East Prussia, the Prussian army reinforced, as fast as possible, and bit a piece of meat at the pass of the retreat of the Russian army.